The art world has long operated under a patriarchal gaze, often sidelining the contributions of women whose accolades, if recognized, often arrive decades late. The feminist art collective Guerrilla Girls once pointed this out in their 1988 manifesto The Advantages of Being a Woman Artist, stating that a woman’s career—if acknowledged—might only take off in their eighties. Indeed, many artists have waited until their nineties, or were not appreciated properly until after their passing.
However, the narrative is beginning to shift. While women artists are still underrepresented in the art world at large, there is a growing consciousness of the need to rectify this imbalance. Among those driving this transformation are the women-owned galleries that champion and cultivate the legacies of these overlooked artists.
Artsy spoke with five galleries, from San Francisco to Casablanca, about their roles in uplifting women’s contributions to art.
Christine Berry and Martha Campbell
Berry Campbell Gallery
New York
New York–based dealers Christine Berry and Martha Campbell first met as associate directors at the Upper East Side gallery Spanierman Modern, where they bonded over a shared passion for Abstract Expressionism. Inspired to platform more of these post-war artists, they founded Berry Campbell Gallery in Chelsea in 2013. Early on, they stumbled upon a collection of works by the nearly forgotten French artist Yvonne Thomas after encountering her work in a group show. It led them to storage units filled with artworks, some bearing labels from the esteemed artist and dealer Betty Parsons. Shocked to find that Thomas, once acclaimed in the 1950s, had fallen out of recognition, the gallerists felt compelled to revive her legacy—a mission that came to define their program.
“What we set out to do when we opened this gallery was to show good art. Christine and I both had an affinity for Abstract Expressionism and Color Field art, and what was being presented to us was C- and D-list men, and, in my opinion, the C- and D-list men would have been a huge gamble,” said Campbell.
